Books, food, friends, and Virginia Woolf.
"I spare you the twists and turns of my cogitations, for no conclusion was found on the road to Headingly, and I ask you to suppose that I soon found out my mistake about the turning and retraced my steps to Fernham."--Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Sunday, January 24, 2010

1882 & then again, more recently

January 25th is the anniversary of the birth of Adeline Virginia Stephen, the third child of Leslie and Julia Duckworth Stephen, and the seventh child in their large extended family. Born in 1882, she grew up and became the novelist Virginia Woolf whose works make up the warp and weft of my mind.

It is also the birthday of my mom. Woolf says “we think back through our mothers if we are women.”

But she lost her mother when she was 13: she had to strive to think back through her. I get to talk to mine three or four times a week even now, into middle age. My mother still lives and thrives, to chaff me about my unkempt hair, to share books and stories with, to advise me, to send me unexpected presents. I am so blessed to have her.

If ever a coincidence were to send a doubting Libra to the astrology books, this January 25th Aquarian coincidence is it.